The Duchess of Cornwall

The Duchess of Cornwall

Britain's Duchess of Cornwall has admitted she is "too old" for tennis.

The 65-year-old royal was left red-faced yesterday when the BBC aired her private comments about the sport to three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, which she made during a meet-and-greet at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in South London.

The broadcasting channel has come under fire for showing unplanned footage of Camilla casually chatting to Joe and his fellow presenters, former British players Virginia Wade and Tim Henman.

Quizzed by Joe whether she played tennis, Camilla replied: "Oh, oh, very badly. I would love to start again but maybe I'm too old."

He laughed: "Never too old, never too old."

The trio had abandoned their live chat to join the end of the line and shake hands with the duchess, but still had their microphones switched on, breaking royal protocol banning media from recording what is being said during meet-and-greets.

Camilla - who later sat in the Royal Box with her sister Annabel Elliot - was also heard saying: "Well it's the third time I've been back last 15, 10 years. I'm going to keep going. My sister and I used to be here every year so it's nice to be able to catch up again. And if we can't see you, we watch you on the telly."

Tennis fans were left baffled by the BBC2 live coverage, with one writing on Twitter, "It's very bizarre. 3 of the BBC commentators have just joined the line up to speak to Camilla - but they're mic'ed up so we can hear all!"

However, an All England Club spokesman has insisted the Duchess was briefed that the BBC was broadcasting live.